The start of a new semester is the start of a new beginning for most, if not all, students. It is when the previous semester’s classes, grades, and mistakes are put out of sight rather than out of mind. In order to do so, a new mindset has to be in the head of students and sometimes that means coming back to campus a day or two, maybe more, before the semester starts.

Arriving a couple of days before the semester starts allow students to unpack and unwind, and mentally prepare for what looms ahead.  They get re-acclimated with being back on campus, and that “living on your own” feel.

Pace’s spring semester didn’t start until Jan. 28, but students weren’t allowed to come back on campus until 10 a.m. on Jan. 27. That only leaves a couple of hours between moving back in and the start of classes, which ultimately leaves little time for mental preparation.

Now students were able to come back to campus earlier than the 27^th, but they had to fill out an early move in application and once that got approved, they were charged a $50 fine for each night they came back earlier than the 27^th.

This is a tough predicament because there are students coming from all over the U.S. There are students from California, Florida, Colorado, Hawaii, and nearly any of the 50 states you can think of. Due to the fact they reside in those states, they either had to fly in on Jan. 27 and deal with the lingering jet lag, come earlier and stay in a hotel, or come early and pay the $50 fine. Either way extra money is being used when it doesn’t necessarily have to and, again, the time for mental preparation is limited.

Another conflict comes with transportation to school. A lot of students who don’t have cars depend heavily on their parents to bring them back to campus, especially with the amount of luggage a month-long break consists of. Parents’ schedule may not coincide with a Sunday move-in day and coming on a Friday or Saturday may be more convenient for them. This allows the student to come back on time, with a ride, and some time to settle in before their 16-week semester begins.

Returning to campus a day before the semester starts is a little too late to have students come in. It’s just unreasonable and inconvenient. Students are already faced with a lot of stress due to classes and other responsibilities to begin with and having to feel rushed to get everything together for school just adds on to that stress.